Here come the heavy-hitters. 5. Pumped Up Kicks - Foster The People Back in March, I described this as 'music to wander around Shoreditch in the sunshine, mingling with hipsters'. I may as well have said ' super-enormo big f**k off global hit in the making ' as quite apart from it's FIFTY-FIVE MILLION YouTube views, since Sept 2010 it's moved stealthily from the blogs to the Grown Up Charts. Everywhere. The convoluted stories behind some of these tracks often add something to the enjoyment of [...]
Apologies for being a bit of a tease. I thought it might be better to split the post as I have outdone myself in attempting to justify my no. 6. Be gentle with me; I am but a music nerd... 10. Jar of Hearts - Christina Perri An odd one this. Perri was unsigned when this big old angsty ballad was posted on her YouTube channel in June 2010 and quickly became a sizeable hit in the US. It wasn't until a [...]
It's been a wonderful year for music! My longlist has over 100 tracks, but here's the Top 40, complete with brief reasons why each track is superb. The usual rules apply. Should be a single or album track in 2011 and only one track from any one act. Here's 11-40 11. When the Thames Froze* Smith & Burrows An utterly contemporary and lovely Christmas song which makes even more sense when one is living here this year. 12. The Bay [...]
December again and so far this winter in London, we haven't really needed to rummage for the scarves and gloves. It's unseasonably delightful - as I type I'm looking out at blue skies and glorious winter sunshine. Despite that, let's have a listen to the latest installment in the Scarves & Gloves series - a mixtape of festive melancholia that paradoxically might warm your cockles. Nothing like a bit of wistful nostalgia to brighten the spirits on these ever-chillier and darker evenings. As ever, there's some old (16th century choral should do it), quite a bit [...]
Occupy Musically Inspired by those dreamers that have set up camp nearby and shook things up in the City, I've put together a mix that is abrim with hot new things. If I may say, the first five tracks constitute one of the more thrilling openings in any of my mixes*. We've got Coldplay's already-anthemic 'Paradise' getting the euphoric Fedde Le Grand treatment; Mr Fingers making 'Internet sensation' Lana Del Rey even slinkier; and Chris Rea once more being Balearic'd by Ministry of Funk. Tracklist [...]
1955-2011 When the iPod came out in 2001, it made immediate sense to me. Here was a beautiful little box the size of pack of cigarettes and it could 'put 1,000 songs in your pocket'. I wanted 1,000 songs - and more - in my pocket. A first-generation iPod on display at Macworld in 2002. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images [...]
1955-2011 When the iPod came out in 2001, it made immediate sense to me. Here was a beautiful little box the size of pack of cigarettes and it could 'put 1,000 songs in your pocket'. I wanted 1,000 songs - and more - in my pocket. A first-generation iPod on display at Macworld in 2002. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images [...]
My first Tweet Profound, eh? And my 10,000th Follow @endaguinan @endaguinan Enda Guinan I am using this, my 10,000th Tweet, to tell @ Babzzarella that, yes, I like @ leahkardos stuff esp. Feather Hammer. about 11 hours ago via Twitter for Mac [...]
I'll just let the music do the talking.... Tracklist Helena Beat (Suxx Edit) * Foster The People Magic (Tom Staar Remix) * The Sound of Arrows I'll Take You There (Director's Cut Classic Signature Mix) * Frankie Knuckles presents Director's Cut feat. Jamie Principle I Need to Love Me (Sandy Rivera's Club Mix) * Kings of Tomorrow feat. April Heaven (Mojam Remix) * Emeli Sandé [...]
I can't keep up with the news: Murdoch Empire imploding in the UK, the Catholic Church imploding in Ireland, my ankle imploding in Whitechapel... rock n roll. Never mind all that: it's mix time. This time round, we get a bit less bright n bubbly and bit more crunchy and minor key. It's Bon Iver vs Wolfgang Gartner; Skrillex vs The Blue Nile (yes!). Funky House fans need not despair, Adele, Morgan Page et al and Aeroplane keep proceedings from going too far into the darkness. OK, next mix at the end [...]
"Where else can you get a box of 10 mangoes for 3 pounds?" asks Sean D in his enthusiastic review of East London's Whitechapel Market. This was a question I failed to consider as I chose to run through it last Thursday afternoon as part of my final training for tomorrow's British 10K London Run. As I weaved deftly through the hoards of those in pursuit of inexpensive mangoes, I thought only of the ticking pedometer in my bum pocket, adding milliseconds to my run time.I had already covered 4K to get this far [...]
Well, we just did it...! Only a week to go to the real thing and my friend Yusuf and I report back after our 10K practice run. We managed it in less than an hour (!) The running over the last few weeks has obviously paid off as we manhged to do 10K but also chat along the way (and get lost, as per). We *thought* we had run all around Victoria Park... I'm still [...]
My god, I've completed a 6k run outside in less than half an hour. Amazing how the body adjusts in such a relatively short space. Alas, the sweat (of which there was much) seems to have inhibited the part of my brain that checks things, so my usual breathless video was recorded without sound. I improvised as you see in the vid. With two weeks to go to the run, I get a video message from Martin Buczkiewicz, Director of Tacade , the charity I'm running for. I'm at 60% of my £500 [...]
1. The Piper's Song (Dublin Aunts Remix) - Gypsy & The Cat Neither from Dublin or indeed Aunts. I first rattled on about these chaps back in July last year. Since then, they've released one fantastic album , generated 'buzz' and are currently supporting Kylie on tour! Here is one of the standout tracks on Gilgamesh remixed by Melbourne outfit, the misleadingly-titled Dublin Aunts . Gypsy & [...]
I really wasn't exaggerating when I say that I sweat a lot after a run. Seriously, I need a dollar, but perhaps I need a doctor?
On Monday, 11th June next, you may open your newspaper or online news purveyor of choice to see a most harrowing image. A very crimson-faced, sweating man will be bent over somewhere in central London, possibly asphyxiated, maybe about to throw up. In 23 days, I will attempt to run 10 kilometres (or about 6.5 miles in old money) for charidee . I'm not much of an athlete so this means I must train - as in actually run outside with people watching and everything . The shame . [...]
So, here's why there's been silence on here for the last few weeks... It turns out out that someone (who must remain unnamed - it's definitely not Freemasons *giggle*) took out a superinjunction preventing me from blogging - or even talking about blogging! Seeing as they cannot yet control social media, I've been sharing tracks and nonsense over on Facebook . Please do join me there. And so, off we go. Tracklist [...]
Thankfully, I'm not badly afflicted with the asthma; my inhalers remain for the most part stowed away until my lungs start to disintegrate in winter. I blame the bout of pneumonia I got when I was a tot. Memorable because it was my only stay in hospital and my aunt gave me a magazine about Abba. See, I was into them waaaay before you... Back on topic. It was 22°C today and yesterday in London and this is not only welcome and amazing for many, many reasons, it reminded me that I need to have a soundtrack for [...]
The ballet is a 15th century invention which has meant very little to me other than strange stirrings as a youth when some tights-wearing dancer threatened to take someone's eye out with his manbits as he leapt about to Tchaikovsky. To paraphrase Moz, I had to say that ballet said nothing to me about my life so I settled for the cheap pop thrills that later lead to more complex pop thrills. Dance does not figure. Pet Shop Boys are no strangers to either cheap or complex pop thrills [...]
Every other day I read something about improving the quality of life by getting more sleep, imposing an electronic curfew and unplugging from social networks. Apart from the irony of finding this stuff at 4:30 a.m. while having a sneaky surf under the duvet, I can't help feeling that my quality of life would take a nose dive were I not able to a) happen upon lovely musical treats and b) let them orchestrate the internal movie of my life as I go about my business. Yes, I should probably be reading a book or something but I might [...]
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